OPINION:
The debate about whether the Constitution should be amended to change the presidential election process is on again. Some advocate eliminating the electoral college in favor of a direct popular vote for president, while others believe the system should remain unchanged. Just as compromise solved the initial problems of the Framers, so it is that compromise can solve this problem.
The solution is to change the electoral votes to electoral points and reward each candidate a percentage of points based on the percentage of popular votes received in each state. This would eliminate the winner-takes-all system, thus allowing for all the votes to count. A voter is more apt to believe that his vote counted when a percentage of popular votes is taken into account. Further, this new system would reconcile the desire for a popular vote for president with the need for the individual states to determine who actually gets elected.
As for political primaries, the number of delegates awarded in each state should be determined by the percentage of votes won by each candidate.
For 2016, multiplying the percentage of votes each candidate received in each state by the number of electoral votes in each state results in the following: 256.985 for Hillary Clinton, 253.482 for Donald Trump.
JOE BIALEK
Cleveland
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